I went on another hike this morning in the mountains, no real trail, just back country hiking. Pretty early in the hike I saw a small herd of mule deer. I already had my camera out and my tele lens on, so I started to slowly climb the side of the mountain towards the deer. I worked my way around a small knoll so that I could come up on them from a different direction than they expected (I made a little noise climbing through the snow, so didn't want to go straight at them, around the edge of the rocks, the deer were right there, maybe 30 feet in front of me.

I stood up and started to come around the rock, there was a huge buck right there and he wasn't all too happy. His head was lowered, staring at me through his antlers. I stood still for a long time while we both stared at each other.

I've been with the deer for about 2 hours now, so they are getting pretty used to me, allowing me to move around and photo them without them becoming upset. I'm having a great time and am able to get very close to many of the deer.

Seeing the mule deer, reminds me of a week long backpacking trip I did in Kings Canyon, California back in the summer of 1976, (Yikes, that is a long time ago!). I came upon a few mule deer and was very surprised at just how accommodating they were to my presence among them.

Again, very beautiful photographs!

B.L.

__________________2007 DL-650(I gave away in 2012 with 111,000 + miles)"A word grows to a thought; a thought to an idea; an idea to an act. All the pieces are put together, and the whole is yours."
1942, Beryl Markham: "West With the Night""In most men, there lurks a lesser man, and his presence smells in the the sun."
1961, Ernest K. Gann: "Fate Is The Hunter"

Those are some great pictures! I love those winter coats, just beautiful.

We have whitetail only, in Ohio.

I had a cool experience in my tree stand one morning. I was my usual 25 feet up in a poplar tree. I had watched several bucks moving up a trail not far from my tree. I could hear one grunting. A noisy fight broke out among the bucks. It was real close but I could not see a thing as the sun was directly in my eyes. After a while a buck came out of the brush and walked directly below my stand. One entire antler was broken off like the deer in the picture. His tail was actually between his legs -or as close as it could get. He had the saddest look on his face. It's tough being a deer.

In the eastern part of this state there is an ongoing discussion about wolves. People think that the wolves will damage the deer and elk herds. Hmmm. Hunters kill the biggest, strongest, healthiest animals like the buck you photographed. Wolves kill and eat the weak and sick animals (plus mice and many other small animals) and don't waste their strength running down the strong healthy good breeders. There are already compensation plans for livestock killed by wolves.

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